Sen. Steve Erdman

District 47

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Last Thursday the Judiciary Committee of the Nebraska State Legislature held a hearing on one of the most important bills introduced this year. Sen. Suzanne Geist of Lincoln authored LB814, a bill to prohibit dismemberment abortions on live, unborn children.

In a procedure known within the abortion industry as intact dilation and extraction, the body of an unborn baby is dismembered during the phase of its extraction from the mother’s uterus. The procedure is performed during the second or third trimesters of pregnancy. In 2003 the procedure was outlawed by the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban on infants with a heartbeat, and the ban was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case known as Gonzales v. Carhart.

Despite the high court’s ruling, though, intact dilation and extraction abortions can still be performed whenever a medical emergency exists. In such a case, the baby may or may not be alive during the procedure. So, the procedure has not been completely banned on live babies. Most disturbing is when the procedure is performed on a live baby exhibiting brain waves or a heartbeat. For this reason, LB814 is a very relevant bill for protecting the unborn in Nebraska.

Intact dilation and extraction is a very brutal and barbaric procedure. Before the baby can be extracted it must first be killed. In order to kill the baby, the physician injects potassium chloride into the baby to stop the heart from beating. The procedure for killing the baby is similar to the way we administer the death penalty in our prison system. The mere fact that the baby must first be killed shows that it is a living and viable human being.

The baby is extracted from the uterus in the breech position. If the baby is not in the breech position, it is turned with forceps. The body of the baby is then cut into smaller pieces for extraction. The largest part of the body is the skull. The skull may be crushed using forceps in order to extract it through the cervical canal.

After the extraction, the baby’s body is reconstructed on a table. The purpose of the reconstruction is to make sure that all of the body parts are accounted for. The procedure is not considered complete until all of the baby’s body parts are accounted for.

Dismemberment abortions are so brutal and barbaric that no one would ever think of allowing a veterinarian to perform this kind of procure on their own pet. In fact, a veterinarian who performed a dismemberment abortion on a dog or a cat, could be sued for thousands of dollars. Herein lies the inversion of our values as a society. For dismemberment abortion to continue in our state would imply that we, as a society, value the lives of puppies and kittens more than human babies.

When LB814 makes its way up to the floor on General File, I will support the bill. I am pro-life. The thought of a live baby enduring a dismemberment abortion is both repulsive and repugnant. Far be it that such a procedure should ever be performed in Nebraska!